Vintage Aircraft

Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
U77I1475131994.SEQ.2.jpg
Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm SMCPentax
 
B-24J Liberator
U77I1475221518.SEQ.0.jpg


This one was delivered to UK Royal Air Force in 1944, abandoned in India, then brought back to flying condition and served the Indian Air Force from 1946-68. The dent damage behind the front gun turret may have come from the RAF attempt to destroy the B-24s before leaving after the war. India repaired most, and adopted them for their own use. It was donated back to the US and flown from India in Mar 1969. Painted up for display as “Bungay Buckaroo”, only on the left; the right shows India Air Force markings. Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
 
Harrier Jump-Jet AV-8B - Built in the US by McDonnell Douglas, service from 1985. At the time, the world’s only vertical take off and landing jet fighter, primarily employed on light attack or multi-role missions, ranging from close air support of ground troops to armed reconnaissance. Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.

U77I1474872108.SEQ.2.jpg


Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm Pentax SMC
 
Bell P-63E King Cobra
Despite appearances, the P-63 was still inferior to other fighters in production for the Army Air Force, mostly due to a shortage of suitably powerful engines, and very few Kingcobras entered US service and none saw combat. First delivery to the US Army was in 1943, but 72% of production went to successful use by Russia in the lend-lease program. US pilots, mostly WAC (Womens Army Corps) ferried the planes from upstate NY to Alaska whence Soviet women pilots ferried them westward. Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
U77I1475736577.SEQ.1.jpg


Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm Pentax SMC
 
Intricate mechanical design of the variable exhaust nozzles shown here thanks to the removal of the rear piece of the nacelle. Which, from the type of fasteners, seems to simply snap in place... Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
U77I1475307834.SEQ.0.jpg

Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm Pentax SMC
 
F-106A Delta Dart
Universally known as “The Six”, an extensive redesign of the F-102 and about twice as fast, Mach 2.3. The primary USAF all-weather interceptor from the 1960s through the 1980s.
On 2 February 1970, an F-106 of the 71st Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, piloted by Captain Gary Foust, entered a flat spin over Montana. Foust followed procedures and ejected from the aircraft. The resulting change of balance caused the aircraft to stabilize and later land "wheels up" in a snow-covered field, suffering only minor damage. The aircraft, promptly nicknamed "The Cornfield Bomber", was then sent back to base by rail, repaired and returned to service, and is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force.
Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, AZ.
U77I1475052690.SEQ.1.jpg

Pentax K-1, 1.8/77mm Pentax SMC
 
" Doug" , love the back stories to these aircraft , my father flew CF-104 Starfighters in Germany in the middle to late 60's for the RCAF at 4 wing .
As a kid I used to sneak up to the end of the runway and wait for them to take off with full afterburner , you had to be there to know what an experience that was !
 
" Doug" , love the back stories to these aircraft , my father flew CF-104 Starfighters in Germany in the middle to late 60's for the RCAF at 4 wing .
As a kid I used to sneak up to the end of the runway and wait for them to take off with full afterburner , you had to be there to know what an experience that was !
Thanks for the comment... Sounds like a fine childhood experience! In the mid-60's I was stationed at a NATO joint airbase near Izmir Turkey. The base was home to a US squadron of F100 SuperSabres but the Turks bought a batch of F104 Starfighters that were brought in as knocked-down kits aboard an aircraft carrier. It was able to park close enough to shore that these could be trucked the short distance to the airbase hangars. They were there assembled, test flown, and delivered to Türk Hava Kuvvetleri (air forces). The civilian pilots had fun on their test flights, could be fun to watch. I just provided weather info. On the final delivery flights the Turks did not really like foreign civilians flying their new Turkish-marked warplanes to their destination but had no real choice. So the THK flew their old F86 Sabrejets as "escort" to ensure good behavior! Well, sometimes the delivery F104 would pull straight up after takeoff leaving the armed F86 far below. These were tricky aircraft to maintain, as I understand, and within a year or two most Turk 104s were out of service.
 
The hangar in the background is a remnant of the US Navy's blimp infrastructure built during WW2 for anti submarine patrols. There were a number of airfields constructed along both the East and West coasts. The USMC used the one in Tustin, Ca., well into the 1980's for its rotary wing aircraft CH46's/CH53's.

The hangars are over 2000 feet long and if memory serves it could house six blimps. I have photos somewhere of one of the Goodyear blimps inside having maintenance done. I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in the late 1970's as a CH46 pilot.

MCAS Tustin is just a few miles from John Wayne International Airport and I believe one of the blimp hangars is now a protected structure, perhaps the largest unsupported wooden building ever constructed. The civilian aircraft used to use the fence line at MCAS Tustin as the point for their turn to base during approaches into Orange County Airport as it was called back then.
 
The hangar in the background is a remnant of the US Navy's blimp infrastructure built during WW2 for anti submarine patrols. There were a number of airfields constructed along both the East and West coasts. The USMC used the one in Tustin, Ca., well into the 1980's for its rotary wing aircraft CH46's/CH53's.

The hangars are over 2000 feet long and if memory serves it could house six blimps. I have photos somewhere of one of the Goodyear blimps inside having maintenance done. I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in the late 1970's as a CH46 pilot.

MCAS Tustin is just a few miles from John Wayne International Airport and I believe one of the blimp hangars is now a protected structure, perhaps the largest unsupported wooden building ever constructed. The civilian aircraft used to use the fence line at MCAS Tustin as the point for their turn to base during approaches into Orange County Airport as it was called back then.
 
The hangar in the background is a remnant of the US Navy's blimp infrastructure built during WW2 for anti submarine patrols. There were a number of airfields constructed along both the East and West coasts. The USMC used the one in Tustin, Ca., well into the 1980's for its rotary wing aircraft CH46's/CH53's.

The hangars are over 2000 feet long and if memory serves it could house six blimps. I have photos somewhere of one of the Goodyear blimps inside having maintenance done. I was stationed at MCAS Tustin in the late 1970's as a CH46 pilot.

MCAS Tustin is just a few miles from John Wayne International Airport and I believe one of the blimp hangars is now a protected structure, perhaps the largest unsupported wooden building ever constructed. The civilian aircraft used to use the fence line at MCAS Tustin as the point for their turn to base during approaches into Orange County Airport as it was called back then.
 
Stearman fly-in, Galesburg IL 1981. Ektachrome using Canon FTb and Tamron 35-105. I know that the slide is really really blue, but that is what the 40 year old slide looks like.
 
Back
Top Bottom